MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - Police have detained two girls aged 15 and 17, suspecting them of preparing to join the Syrian war, RTL reported Wednesday.
“Two possible future participants of the war in Syria were arrested Tuesday, August 19 in Venissieux, a suburb of Lyon and in Tarbes [Hautes-Pyrenees]. Aged 15 and 17, the two girls knew each other only through social networking,” RTL reported.
One of the girls’ relatives alerted the local police department, triggering an investigation by French anti-terrorism departments, which eventually led to the teenagers’ arrest.
In spring 2014, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve presented a report on French citizens fighting in Syria saying there were 285 French citizens in the war-stricken country and that 120 more “jihad candidates” had left France and could be on their way there.
Despite efforts to discourage Frenchmen from joining the war, a new report presented by Cazeneuve last week stated that there were now about 900 French jihadi in Iraq and Syria.
Since March 2011, the Syrian war has claimed more than 140,000 lives, according to the United Nations. Government troops are fighting militias belonging to different opposition groups, including the Islamic State.
